Capital Grill and Guylian Cafe, Circular Quay

After a long day at uni, I headed into the city with D for our long awaited dinner date, stopping by Westfield Pitt St. Mall before hiking up to Circular Quay. Whilst D withdrew money, I lingered over the sweets display at Coco Noir, a cafe in the middle of the shopping centre, so I grabbed a hazelnut macaroon to tide me over til dinner.

Hazelnut macaroon $2.50

The macaroon was okay, not as lovely and soft as Lindt or Zumbo. The outer shell was crispy and a little bit hard. I had to put a lot more effort biting into it compared to a normal macaroon. Once you get used to the strange hard texture of the shell, it’s still quite delicious.

With all errands completed and the new Zara store way too busy to even bother trying to enter, we headed up towards Circular Quay to find Capital Grill. I’d heard it was hard to find, but luckily D’s boyfriend worked nearby and was able to point us in the general direction. It was easy enough to find, and we were very excited to see that it had pink neon lights outside, no queue and plenty of empty tables because we were starving.

We were very keen to sit indoors, away from the after work crowd winding down over drinks because D had a bit of a headache, so we were pleased to see plenty of indoor seating with the door open so we could still get some fresh air. However, when we requested a table for two, they led us upstairs to the most ambient dining room – all warm colours and dim lighting with a splash of colour from resident artist Tilo Kaiser.

Amuse Bouche: Carrot and cardamom soup

After being served a warm sourdough bread with some butter and sea salt flakes which we eagerly ate, we were served an amuse bouche of carrot and cardamom soup. “It smells asian!” was D’s first remark, and rightly so because the cardamom made it smell like mum was in the backyard, because asians cook in the backyard, making dinner. Without the cardamom, it would have been delicious as it was the carrot was subtle and the texture was super creamy.

Wagyu sirloin steak 150g w/ potato mash, port jus and mushroom ragout $25

I had chosen the wagyu sirloin with potato mash, port jus and mushroom ragout. I loved the mushrooms, perfectly flavoured though slightly cold in comparison to my nice, hot steak. The wagyu was quite average, not as soft as I expected, and quite chewy in some parts. The weight was perfect for me though, 150g is just enough to get me full, especially paired with the fluffy mash which was very filling. I was also offered four different types of mustard and I tried dijon which was not hot enough, seeds which didn’t really add any flavour for me and hot English which was too hot, so the mustards were a bust for me.

Side of hand cut fries with aioli $7

We were craving aioli so hand cut fries with a request for aioli on the side was our obvious choice. The aoili was average, too much mayonnaise and not enough garlic I think. The chips were hand cut, so very thick and fat, a slight crunch on the outside as you bite then the steamy hot potato falls out in soft, light chunks. Delicious.

Paparadelle: Braised lamb shank meat, olives and tomatoes $26

D was craving carbs so she decided on the paradadelle which she had at Pendolino and adored. This one is not as good, I like the pasta paired with the olive and tomatoes but overall, the sauce is a bit too sweet for a savoury dish. “Can I take you on a date to Pendolino?” she requests and obviously, my answer is yes, though we decide maybe we shouldn’t tell our boyfriends we are secretly dating on the side, hehe! They might get jealous of all the delicious food they’re missing out on. Ah, but Pendolino, I’ve heard so much from her about the quaint little restaurant tucked away in the secrets of The Strand Arcade. She ranks Pendolino in her top three restaurants in Sydney, so how could I ever say no to that?

I leave some mash and D doesn’t finish the paparadelle, wistful she didn’t get the entree size which would have been perfect. I think my highlight was the bread, I do love a good bread. I also loved the service which was top notch and the ambience, which would be perfect for a romantic night out.

We’re full and we rub our tummies, but we’re still keen on dessert, after all, what’s a girly night out without dessert? We head up to Guylian Cafe at Circular Quay and ooh and aah at the pretty looking cakes on offer. We settle for the Guylian Degustation Plate which include a few desserts and a hot chocolate to share.

Guylian Degustation Plate, w/ hot chocolate $32

There’s some strawberries sprinkled throughout the plate, with a small pot of melted chocolate at the end for dipping. The other end holds a little pot of strawberry ice cream, which is full of flavour and chunks of strawberries. Along the middle are the passion temptation, the caramelt cake and the pineapple cake. Dispersed amongst the length of the plate are a few pralines as well.

The passion temptation is a white chocolate mousse with a caramelised passionfruit cream and is one of the ones I like from Guylian. I love the ball of passionfruit cream in the centre, it does perfectly with the mousse on the outside – not too sweet at all and perfectly balanced in flavour. The caramelt is a toffee caramalised hazelnut mousse with caramel ganache and chocolate cacao sponge coating. I don’t like the coating much because it is very rubbery and combined with the ganache and mousse, it is too sweet and for this reason, it becomes D’s least favourite of the three. The poached caramel pineapple cake is nice, very different with a blackcurrant gel with double vanilla mousse and walnut honey. As you bite into the cake, the pineapple combined with the blackcurrant is a strange but delicious combination and paired with the sweet mousse, it goes perfectly. It becomes my favourite of the three.